President Bashar al-Assad of Syria plans to attend a gathering of Arab leaders on Friday for the primary time since he violently suppressed an anti-government rebellion that morphed right into a civil warfare, torturing and using chemical weapons on his personal individuals.

Syria’s membership within the Arab League, suspended since 2011, was restored this month forward of the leaders’ summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Ayman Sousan, Syria’s assistant international minister, told a Saudi-owned newspaper, Asharq Al Awsat, on Wednesday that Mr. al-Assad supposed to attend the assembly. Mr. Sousan added that he hoped the summit would “open a new stage.”

Welcoming Mr. al-Assad is a significant turnaround for a lot of Arab states, which reduce ties with him as he laid siege to total cities in an effort to defeat insurgent forces after an Arab Spring rebellion, oversaw a jail system rife with torture and mass executions and sent millions of refugees fleeing to neighboring countries. The civil warfare that erupted killed lots of of 1000’s of individuals, and Syria stays mired in an financial and humanitarian disaster.

Saudi Arabia initially supported a number of the insurgent teams preventing towards Mr. al-Assad’s forces, supplying them with funding and weapons in covert coordination with the United States.

But because the years handed and Mr. al-Assad held onto energy, Arab governments have regularly shifted their method. The United Arab Emirates restored ties with Syria in 2018, whereas Oman by no means reduce them. Both international locations have already hosted Mr. al-Assad on official visits and have been pushing for Syria’s return to the “Arab fold.” That effort failed to achieve momentum till Saudi Arabia, the regional political heavyweight, extra not too long ago acquired on board.

The area’s challenges require that its international locations stand collectively in “one line” and “refuse external interference,” Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Saudi Arabia’s international minister, stated at a gathering of Arab international ministers on Wednesday, forward of the summit.

Now, many Arab international locations are dealing brazenly with Mr. al-Assad, arguing that shunning him didn’t obtain their aims. The objectives differ from nation to nation, however for Saudi officers they embody countering the affect of Iran — the dominion’s regional rival and Mr. al-Assad’s shut ally — in addition to blocking the trade of captagon, a bootleg amphetamine, throughout Syria’s borders and into the dominion. For different international locations, together with Jordan, essentially the most instant concern is the destiny of the Syrian refugees who stay of their international locations.

Friday’s summit will “offer Arab solutions to Arab problems,” stated Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the Arab League’s secretary basic. Speaking to Syrian state news media after a preparatory assembly on Wednesday, Syria’s international minister, Faisal al-Mekdad, stated that the environment had been “comfortable” and that his nation was wanting to “work together with our Arab brothers.” Asked whether or not Mr. al-Assad would attend the summit, he stated solely that Syria “cannot be absent from the league.”

Hwaida Saad contributed reporting from Beirut, Lebanon.